Gentle Reassurance
by rhrshipper23
Summary: Hermione is feeling a little insecure during her pregnancy. Who knew that Ron could be so perceptive?


**Title:** Gentle Reassurance

**Prompt:** orange

**Rating:** R

**Word Count:** 1591

**Warnings:** check the rating! DH spoilers ahead...beware.

**Notes:** This is rated R for very implied sexual themes (Ron and Hermione are naked...'nuff said). The 'naughtiest' word in this fic is 'nipple'. If you don't know what that is, then you're too young to be reading this.

And for my fellow Americans...potato crisps in England are the equivalent to potato chips here.

* * *

Hermione woke to the ticklish feeling of feather-like kisses trailing down her neck and across her shoulder. "Mmm…morning," she whispered.

"Morning," Ron's low voice burred in her ear as he nibbled at the lobe gently. "Last night was beyond great."

"Mmmm," she agreed, her lips curving into a smile. She allowed Ron to roll her onto her back and indulged in a teasing exploration of their lips that left her breathless and very much awake. "Now that's a wakeup call," she sighed, snuggling up to his warmth as much as her heavily pregnant body would allow. Ron traced her rounded stomach hoping to coax movement out of the baby.

"Not much longer now, love," he said.

"A month is plenty long," Hermione groused. "Sometimes it feels like she's using my kidneys as punching bags."

"She?" asked Ron, lifting an eyebrow.

"I just have this feeling," Hermione told him.

Ron kissed her once more before rolling out of bed and heading towards the wardrobe. Hermione admired his lean body as he slipped on a pair of boxers and padded out of the bedroom. She heard the shower running from the bathroom down the hall and allowed herself a few minutes to fully wake up. She and Ron had been up well into the night. Surprisingly her sex drive had increased the past two months, tempered only by her own insecurity surrounding her rapid weight gain. Ron hadn't seemed to mind in the least, but Hermione wasn't sure if he was sincere or merely humoring her.

Hermione hated to go into work on a Saturday, the one day that Ron wasn't scheduled for a shift in the Auror Department. Her bill to protect dragons kept under duress in goblin-run financial institutions was currently under consideration for review at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. But with her due date creeping up, Hermione realized that, if she didn't make some headway in her paperwork before the baby came, she'd come back after her maternity leave terribly behind.

She must have dozed off for a bit because the next time she opened her eyes the bedside clock confirmed fifteen minutes had passed by. Groaning a bit in protest at having to get up after so little sleep, Hermione swung her legs over the side of the bed. She struggled to her feet, leaning back a bit to compensate for her ever shifting center of gravity. She grabbed her robe off the back of a chair, uncomfortable with walking around her own bedroom naked. Actually it was Ron's robe, a tattered well worn garment in a rather virulent shade of u orange /u that clashed horribly with his ginger hair. Hermione had been rather dismayed when her fluffy blue robe, a wedding gift from her Mum, no longer fit around her expanding belly. She quickly donned the robe and turned, surprised to find Ron leaning against the door frame watching her.

"What?" Hermione asked, suddenly embarrassed that he must have seen her.

"You're so beautiful," Ron said with an easy smile as he buttoned up his shirt.

"And you must had hit your head a little too hard against the headboard last night," Hermione teased, shaking her head. "I'm anything but beautiful right now. I'm fat and swollen and my skin is…"

"Hold it," Ron interrupted. He may not have experienced hormonal mood swings first hand, but he was around when Ginny was pregnant with James. And he'd watched, in equal parts fascination and amusement, as his normally even tempered sister would literally see-saw from one extreme to another. One minute she'd smile at the mirror, gently rubbing her belly and next Ron would have to save the damn thing from inadvertently becoming a shattered bulls-eye as shoes would fly and curses filled the house as Ginny lamented over never ending heartburn and swollen feet.

"Ron, I think…"

"Don't think," Ron cut in once more, as he gently took Hermione's hand and steered her over to the full length mirror hanging on the wall. Placing Hermione in front of him, he reached around and untied the belt holding the robe closed. Startled Hermione moved to stop him, but Ron quickly intercepted her hands and placed a soft kiss at her temple. "Let me." Reluctantly Hermione lowered her hands and met Ron's eyes in the mirror, as he once again opened the robe and exposed Hermione's body to their view. "First and foremost, you're not fat. In case you hit _your_ head against the headboard a little too hard last night, let me remind you that there's a baby growing inside of you. And i she /i depends on you to nourish her and keep her safe. And these," Ron explained, tracing the subtle roundness of Hermione's cheekbone with one hand and the curve of her hip with the other, "are nature's way of showing you that you're doing everything right." Ron looked up and smiled a bit at Hermione's stunned expression. "Now if you ate an entire bag of potato crisps in one sitting, perhaps I might be inclined to agree with you."

Ron's attempt at humor broke through Hermione's astonishment. "Well that's really not fair to say, Ron. They never, ever fill potato crisp bags to the top." Hermione paused a moment. "Actually there are far less crisps than most people realize. It's practically ninety-five percent air, and only five percent crisp."

Ron grinned in response. "Sounds like you're speaking from experience."

Hermione shrugged. "I may have had a crisp or two in the last week or so." A pause. "At the Burrow." A longer pause. "At your mother's insistence."

"Oh so it's Mum's fault," Ron replied. "I see…it's funny how she has the ability to force food onto people."

"Well it doesn't look like she was able to influence you into eating anything deliciously fattening growing up," Hermione said, admiring Ron's partially clad form behind her. "In fact I've always wondered how it is that you're so thin after all the food you've shoved in your mouth at school."

"Well it wasn't for her lack of trying, believe me." He paused for a moment. "Now, you mentioned something about being swollen. I happen to think that you are swollen," Ron began, trailing a finger from Hermione's collarbone down the side of left breast, taking time to circle the rapidly hardening nipple, before resting his hand on Hermione's rounded belly, "in all the right places."

Hermione swallowed hard against the sudden onslaught of feeling Ron's touch evoked. "I…uh…I was talking about me feet."

Ron leaned forward, kissing the top of Hermione's head. "Oh you were, were you?" He teased. "Well in that case I recommend more time off your feet lounging on the couch resting and less time at The Burrow being force fed potato crisps."

Hermione laughed. "I'll take that into consideration." She sighed. "Now you can't argue with me about my skin. It's dry and splotchy and…" She stopped abruptly, gasping as warm lips traveled up her neck, licking her pulse point, before teeth nipped at her earlobe.

"And tasty," Ron helpfully supplied, continuing his assault on Hermione's skin, as well as her senses.

"Ron...we…Oh God…we have…have to stop." Contrary to her words, Hermione turned within the circle of his arms and began her own exploration. Breathy moans filled the air and hands frantically roamed as lips met with urgency.

Seconds, turned to long minutes before Ron reluctantly pulled away. "I'm sorry," He said on an uneven breath. "I didn't mean to start something that we can't finish."

"Huh?" said Hermione, confusion and frustration clearly evident in her expression.

"I thought that you were planning on going into work early." Ron reminded her. "You need to get in the shower." A smile. "Remember?"

"Oh right…a shower" Hermione replied, still dazed. "Ron?"

"Hmm?"

Hermione brought her hands up to Ron's chest, watching it expand as Ron took a sudden deep breath, feeling his heartbeat jump in response to her touch. "I forgot…" Hermione trailed off as she took a step closer, bringing their bodies in contact.

"Forgot what?" Ron whispered, bringing his head down until their foreheads touched.

"That I can't wash my poor, swollen feet," Hermione pulled on Ron's neck and their lips met in another heated kiss. "I can't reach them because I can't bend over far enough," she continued when they paused to breathe.

"That's a shame." Ron grinned slyly as he deftly pushed the robe off Hermione's shoulders. "I could help you with this little problem on yours."

"Oh yeah?"

"Absolutely," Ron assured her. "I have no problem at all washing your swollen feet…and all of your _other_ swollen parts while I'm at it."

"How considerate of you," Hermione said, her fingers already making short work of the buttons on the shirt Ron was wearing. Ron decided to speed things along and brought his own hands into play and soon they were both naked, standing in front of the mirror, once again kissing with mindless abandon. Without breaking contact, Hermione slowly walked backwards pulling Ron with her as they made their way out of the bedroom and across the hall to the bathroom. Once there she reached over and turned on the tap, waiting a moment for the water to warm before she pulled on the stopper, watching as the showerhead came to life. She was once again pulled into a sensual embrace, gasping as Ron's touch rapidly escalated from teasing to intense and she barely got the door closed behind them before she lost herself in him once more.


End file.
